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Open Innovation 2.0 Yearbook 2013

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This Open Innovation 2013 yearbook is intended to provide stimuli for thoughts and actions in the field of service innovation, especially related to the information and knowledge society.

The core function of the yearbooks has not changed, but the evolving context has led to a change in the name of the yearbooks: starting as Service Innovation yearbooks and now continuing as Open Innovation yearbooks. The drive for open innovation ecosystems, platforms and processes that enable stronger interaction between all stakeholders, namely private, public, people and, often, even NGO actors, is common throughout the series. The triple helix (public– private–people partnership) has grown into a quadruple or even penta–helix aiming for sustainability, both in economic and societal terms.

In the European context, open innovation is now used as a synonym for modern, highly dynamic and interactive processes. Linear and sequential mindsets are slowly changing to be more opportunistic, more daring and more action-oriented. We need to move from having ‘perfect plans for yesterday’ to an innovation culture which fosters experimentation and prototyping in real-world settings. This new innovation culture leads to simultaneous technological and societal innovation and encouragement. We need to be daring and also experiment with disruptive approaches as gradual improvement does not properly reflect the potential that the omnipresent, fast-developing ICT provides for parallel innovations.

Real-world settings with experimental approaches turn the user into a co-creator in the innovation process, instead of just being a recipient of the services or products. The new role of the user is an advantage as feedback on what is successful and what is not can be discovered very rapidly: this enables solutions which create real value to move faster and more successfully. ‘Failing fast’ means that we are also less likely to fail in the big things because corrections to the innovation pathway are easier to take on board at the earlier stages.

This scalability of success, and the possibility to multiply it, is the critical element that shapes the market for future knowledge-intensive services and products in Europe. We have, compared to other regions of the world, the unique asset of the most advanced and demanding users (be they citizens or user industries). That valuable component in the innovation process needs to be reinforced in our approach. We need to move from innovation clusters to innovation ecosystems with a new kind of mental approach. Co-creativity and well-designed processes reduce friction between the different processes that support innovation. This also includes the legal and policy frameworks which need to cut red tape and, at the same time, create a safety net for innovation by experimentation.

I wish you all inspiring reading of this Open Innovation 2013 yearbook! I hope it stimulates new thinking and creates ideas on how to move towards frictionless innovation systems in Europe.

Bror Salmelin,

European Commission, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology

The objective of our Innovation yearbook 2013 is to create a manifesto and platform for sustainable growth enabled through Innovation 2.0. Our goal is to build towards a collective vision/ambition and leverage our collaborative intelligence and muscle to create a virtuous circle of sustainable growth which enables new services, sustainability, improved quality of life and new jobs.

We need a collective vision and architecture of a new sustainable Europe. Important elements of this are contained in President Barroso’s Europe 2020 strategy and the related flagship initiatives towards a smart, inclusive and sustainable economy. A supporting vision, ‘Digital Europe’ and related ideas have been developed by the Intel Labs Europe team and collaboration partners across Europe and presented at the annual Intel European Research and Innovation Conferences which have had a theme of building a smart, inclusive and sustainable society.

In parallel, the EU Open Innovation Strategy and Policy Group has been monitoring, developing and evolving a new paradigm and set of methodologies, which we call ‘Innovation 2.0’, to help achieve broader-scale innovation benefits that leverage and benefit broad sets of stakeholders. In the Innovation 2.0 paradigm, we identify distinct characteristics which leverage diverse concepts and practices including the principle of shared value (Porter and Kramer), open innovation (Chesbrough), co-creation (Ramaswamy), high expectation entrepreneurship (Formica et al.) and triple helix innovation (Etzkowicz). We believe that the effective collaboration of governments, academia, industry and citizens working together can drive structural changes and improvements far beyond the scope of what any one entity can achieve on its own.

Looking forward, we believe an important development could be a shift from linear value chains to sustainable value cycles (Haque) which more intensely recycle resources to produce services, products and ecosystems which are built to last longer, without compromising resources, the environment or communities.

In synergistic alignment with the goals of Europe 2020, we hope this Innovation 2.0 yearbook can provide examples of best practice which, when synthesised and practiced, can provide a blueprint and design patterns for a sustainable Europe which can then act as a beacon for the rest of our global society.